4 Reasons to Use Credit Card Tokenization

Tackling the future of crime, with tokens.

Data breaches and compromise will dot headlines for years’ to come. Tokenization is one of the simplest ways to begin to protect your customers, your business in the face of a data breach. Here are four reasons why.

The future of crime—4 reasons to use tokenization

When you think about a data breach, what comes to mind? News headlines of name-brand businesses coping with the aftermath of attacks? “Hactivists” targeting global institutions? The investments your business makes to protect your data against an attack? There are countless considerations as you fortify your businesses against the threat of credit card fraud, data theft and its associated losses. Tokenization is one of the most simple and straight-forward ways to protect your customers against the negative effects of a data breach. Here are four reasons why you should consider tokenization for your online payments.

Tokenization lets you substitute a credit, debit, prepaid, or checking account number stored on your system with a string of numbers known as a token. Each token is specific to your business and useless to anyone else who might try to use it, so you can store it without concern.

2. Implementing and using tokens should be seamless.

Choose a provider that makes implementing and using tokens completely transparent to both you and your customers. Tokens should be card-based, not transaction-based, so they fit easily into your existing systems including OMS, billing, and ERP systems.

4. You can get your data back.

If at any time you want your cardholder information returned to you, your tokenization provider should be able to provide it in a secure, PCI DSS compliant manner in its entirety. Therefore, you never lose ownership of your vital customer information.